bond over blood Who: Rowan and Nate When: Early evening Where: Nevermore
It had proved to be an interesting day for Nate. Meeting Ezra had been a surprise, eating in a French restaurant an even bigger one, and now he was someone skilled to teach him beyond what his grandma thought he was ready for. All in exchange for some assistance... how could Nate refuse that? With his mind full of overcrowding thoughts, Nate drove to Nevermore and felt like the lack of cars meant that the shop might not be too terribly busy. He hated going into the place when it was full of curious, annoying people. Especially when it was full of giggling teenage girls who felt sure that they would open a book on vampires and find out that they did sparkle. Ugh. Still, he couldn't see people moving about inside from the window of his car, so he got out, locked his doors and headed into Nevermore, his hands in his pockets and his eyes avoiding any kind of contact with whoever else might be there.
Rowan had found a bit of money waiting for her in her bank account after all, so she decided to squeeze in a trip to Nevermore before her first shift at the Bucket. She'd been a regular at the store before she'd been sent away, and truthfully, she was hoping that maybe they would have hired someone knew. Someone she had never met before, someone who wouldn't report to Dorian that she was looking at the books on blood and black magic. Because she didn't think she had a snowball's chance in hell on avoiding some strong opinions on the matter if it went his way. Inside, she headed for her destination and did her best to look... inconspicuous. I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm not doing anything wrong... She just kept telling herself that as she sat in the aisle and flipped through a book, keeping the cover against her knees so no one could see. God, Row, grow up.
Nate wasn't overly worried about anyone seeing him reading the books on blood magic. If the owner didn't want people absorbing that particular kind of magic, he wouldn't have the books in stock then, now would he? Nate was mildly surprised to see a girl already in the section, a book open on her knees, though he couldn't tell which book it was. She looked very vaguely familiar, but unless he bent over to stare her in the face, he couldn't be sure if he knew her or not. Nate paused and debated turning around and browsing another section until she up and left, but given she was sitting on the floor reading, that might take awhile. Scratching absently at his arm, he decided to ignore her for the time being, and moved in close to study the book titles. He knew which ones were crap, and which ones could benefit. All it usually took was a quick skim through.
I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm just minding my own business, I'm not doing anything wrong... just kind of hogging the aisle. Rowan internally argued with herself for a minute before inching a bit more out of the way. She raised her eyes for a minute to try and wager what he was looking for and whether or not she ought to forget the whole thing and run like a coward, before looking back down at her book. It was just low level stuff, but already she liked that the only ingredient was her blood. The later stuff would probably terrify her, but for now, this seemed harmless enough. What was the big problem?
Nate pulled out one of the books, giving it a once over glance. His eyes happened to drop down to the book on the girl's lap a bit curiously, even though he knew it wasn't his business what she was reading. And if he'd been reading and had someone hovering over him, he would have been thoroughly annoyed. But... she was apparently reading up on blood magic. Usually he found people trying to get more information on the other kinds of magic, since he supposed they were less terrifying.
"That's some heavy stuff," Nate told her, breaking the silence in the aisle. He wouldn't give her any advice on literature just yet... for all he knew, she was just morbidly curious about the whole thing, rather than genuinely interested.
Rowan froze for a second before looking up at him. He looked about her age, so at the very least, she could probably avoid a lecture. "I guess I'm heavy then." Wait, I'm what? Oh, brilliant. "White magic's that shelf." she said, nodding her head in the proper direction. "There's flowers in it."
He gave her a curious look at her remark before snickering. "Yeah, thanks. I was wondering, you know? What kind of flowers? Because I'm a big lily kind of guy myself." He replaced the book and reached over to pull out a heavier one with a hard cover. "This one'll give you more thorough information if you're really interested in that stuff. The one you got now might as well be called Blood Magic for Dummies..." At least from what he could see on the pages she was scouring. He offered it down to her, wondering if she would actually take it.
"Lilies? Really?" Rowan asked, trying not to look amused. "I would have taken you for a delicate lotus blossom." Her eyes flickered between him and the book he was holding out, and she accepted it with both hands, for the most part. Her left hand was pretty stupid with three fingers in splints right now. "You know a lot about this stuff?"
"I have no idea what the hell a lotus blossom looks like, but I'll take your word for it." He noted the splits on her fingers and went to scratching his arm again. "Eh, a little bit," Nate admitted with a sheepish smile. "I know enough to know what to read and what to throw away as garbage. Do you know a lot about this stuff? Or are you just looking to?"
"Looking to." Rowan answered, putting the book in her lap, but mainly concentrating on him now. He seemed familiar, and she wondered if they'd gone to school together. "Maybe black magic, too." Not something she'd admit to most people, but if he was already into blood magic, it couldn't hurt. "I don't care for white magic and I'm just not gutsy enough for grey, I guess."
Cocking an eyebrow, he asked incredulously, "You're not gusty enough too try for grey magic, but you want to try blood magic?" To him, all magic but his own seemed dull, even black magic. There was only one thing required with blood magic, and it got the desired results a hell of a lot quicker. "How advanced are you in white magic? Assuming you know how to do it, I mean."
Rowan stared up at him blankly. "Blood doesn't bother me." she said. She made a face at the mention of white magic, unable to keep it to herself. "Not very." she said. "My mother wanted to me to learn. My heart was never in it." And Rowan was a firm believer in magic only working when you wanted it to. If you didn't care, what was the point? "What about you?"
Blood didn't bother her. Nate couldn't help but stare at her for a few, brief moments. That was... interesting? He wasn't quite sure yet. Nate didn't meet many people who could say something like that and mean it. Reaching up, Nate scratched the nape of his neck absently, staring off thoughtfully as he tried to think of the best way to answer her. "Uh... I don't know. I'm no good at white magic either. I guess I'm like you... my heart's not in that kind of stuff." He had never tried it before, in all honesty, but instincts told Nate he would be god awful at it. His eyes ticked back to her face, and he smiled. "Maybe I have no ambition, but I like the kind of magic that's easy to do and gets me results a hell of a lot faster."
There was something about that mentality Rowan didn't care for, but she couldn't exactly judge him for it. "That's one way of looking at it." she said, though she really couldn't explain why she was getting into it herself. Well, maybe she could have, and maybe this guy would have believed her, but it still wasn't happening. Rowan didn't tell people about the curse, that wasn't the way she worked. "I just think... this might be my calling." Still a weird answer, but the closest one she could give.
Nate knew that explaining the real reasons behind his desire to perform blood magic would do nothing more than to probably creep her out and send her on her way, so he found, as always, that it was just easier to lie. Ezra seemed to latch on to what Nate could do, and maybe even why he did it, but that was different. Ezra was like him. This girl... she wasn't. At least not yet. "It's nice, isn't it?" he asked, his smile slipping from his face. "Feeling like there might be some real purpose for you? Not always the cleanest, or easiest, path to take, but I think the rewards from it are better than anything else you'd find." He scratched at his arm again before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. I just don't see many people wanting to learn blood magic beyond morbid curiosity."
Rowan gave him a faint smile. "I guess I want results, too." she said, shrugging. She knew this stuff was dangerous, and she might get to a later level and chicken out, but... dammit, she was going to learn what she could. "I never really met anyone into blood magic, it's always been so taboo. I never understood what the big deal was." For the most part.
"Not everyone can stomach it," Nate said with a wry smile. "It never bothered me though. I guess I find it fascinating, which of course means I'm a freak or something." He didn't know if she wanted to see, and she hadn't asked, but since she seemed interested, and she didn't annoy the shit out of him yet, Nate tugged back his sleeve, revealing the criss crossed scars, some still red and welted, a couple still scabbed over. "It's not pretty, in the long run. If you're not a vain person, it won't matter, I guess."
Rowan leaned forward to get a closer look at his arm, oddly fascinated by seeing marks on someone else for a change. "I'm not afraid of more scars." she said, shaking her head. "I want them." Far more information than she'd normally give, but she'd never met a blood witch before. At least scars from blood magic would show that something had come from it all. "Like I said... blood doesn't bother me."
Nate cocked an eyebrow, sliding his sleeve back down his arm once she'd gotten a good enough look. "You do? I guess that's a good thing, because if you get into this kind of magic, you're gonna get them all over the place." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he shrugged. "If you ever want any help... I mean, first hand kind of help, but reading from a text book kind of help..." He didn't know why he was offering. He didn't like other people. He liked to make them bleed, and hurt. He didn't like helping them. But as usual, Nate was always open enough to sense when there was a chance for opportunity. And he felt like there might be one here.
He was offering to help her? That was an interesting opportunity to Rowan, especially considering she'd always been on her own in magic. She sure as hell never learned anything from her father. "I'd like that." she admitted. "If you're sure you don't mind." she added. "I'm Rowan." For a moment she almost considered introducing herself with her middle name, which she did sometimes if she was scared her reputation was going to fuck things up for her.
He played it off casually, shrugging nonchalantly and giving her a small smile. "No, I don't mind. If I did, I wouldn't have offered, believe me." Rowan. Why did he know that name? "Nate," he said, studying her face as he tried to remember where he knew her. If he even did. It felt like he ought to know, but... he so infrequently paid attention to people he didn't think mattered. "I'd still get the book," Nate instructed, nodding at the one in her lap. "But I think I'd be able to show you stuff a hell of a lot faster than anything you try to do on your own."
Rowan smirked a bit at him. "Is that a challenge?" she asked, having to say it. Or maybe she was just a stubborn show-off who liked to show up the boys. Probably both, actually. "I'll do that." she confirmed anyway. She'd been planning on getting something for black magic too, but that could wait. One step at a time.
Nate chuckled and shrugged. "Could be. Depends on if you wanna take it that way." He figured if she thought it was a challenge, she'd work harder to actually be good at whatever she attempted. Which he liked. "If you want, you can read over that stuff and then give me a call." She'd be the second person he met that day interested in blood magic. Nate was starting to think something bizarre was going on, but he wasn't going to complain. He could use it to his benefit, and that was the important thing.
She wondered if she could get away with reading this kind of shit during her shift at the Bucket. Maybe, if she was creative. Yeah, right. Still, she rooted in her bag for a pen. "I'll do that. What's your number?" Damn, I am productive today.
He supposed for a split second she expected her to laugh at him and call him a moron, or freak or something like that and he had to mentally force himself to start speaking again. Nate rattled off his number for her, knowing better than to ask for hers in return. After he finished, Nate paused before asking, "Did we go to school together? You look kinda familiar to me."
Rowan simply wrote the number on the back of her left hand and dropped her pen back in her bag. She even managed not to freeze when he asked about school. She looked up at him and really tried to remember. "I don't know, I thought you might have looked familiar too." she admitted. "What year are you?"
"I graduated in 2007," Nate said, still trying to place her face. He knew she wasn't in his class, but she probably went to school when he did. Maybe. She looked old enough to have graduated already. "What about you? Are you done too?"
Damn, he would ask if she was finished. Now she couldn't just say she was a year younger than him or anything. "I was supposed to graduate this year." she admitted. "I took some time off and... I'm gonna have to repeat the year."
"So you would have been... two years below me?" He was about to ask why she'd have to repeat a year but then it dawned on him who she was. Rowan. He had heard small rumblings about her. Something about a psychiatric hospital? Or something. That would explain having to take time off. But Nate didn't let that particular realization show on his face. "That sucks about having to repeat. Unless you're looking forward to it, then it doesn't suck, I guess." He smiled, wondering how 'crazy' she really was. Had she tried to kill herself? Did she completely lose it? Suddenly, the idea of her performing blood magic seemed extremely entertaining and interesting. "I was lucky enough to just barely scrape out of there myself."
"I'd just assume get my GED and get the hell out of there." Rowan admitted with a small smile. "But my mom..." she shrugged and gestured as if that said it all. "Whatever. Are you in college?" She felt a bit better knowing that he was two years older than her, maybe that meant she'd been off his radar. That would have been a gift right now.
He nodded, pretending to understand. But he never had any parents to boss him around, or tell him what he had to do. Only his grandma, and she was pretty lenient. "I take a couple classes at the community college," Nate said. "I really don't think doing the whole college experience is really for me. Getting through high school was bad enough. So I'm just taking some stuff that interests me instead."
"What interests you?" Rowan asked, clearly curious. She'd never entertained the idea of college - it just wasn't in her cards. If she were in a position to pursue interests, she honestly had no idea what those interests would be. Her life was built around finding loopholes.
He shrugged again. "I've been taking some Computer Technology courses. Sounds nerdy, but that's because it is, I guess. I figure if I learn enough I can get a job where I don't have to deal with people on a daily basis. I don't think there's anything out there that I need college to really prepare me for. And it's not like they're offering anything in relation to the books in these aisles. I just wanna do what I wanna do, not what everyone else thinks I need to do."
Well, shit. That was a philosophy Rowan could relate to. Wasn't that why she had been all but hiding in the aisle? "That makes a lot of sense." she admitted. He sure had better plans than she did. She really hadn't expected to be able to relate to anyone in this stuff, or even on this little outing, but she was glad she'd met him.
"Good," he said with a smile and a relieved laugh. "That's not always the case with a lot of shit I say. Anyway... yeah, if you need or want any help, give me a call? I'd offer to help you out with school stuff, but I think you actually want to graduate, so it's best not to ask me anything of that nature."
Rowan smirked a bit as she closed the book and pushed herself to her feet with her good hand. "I'll give you a call tomorrow." she confirmed. "After I've read up a bit. I appreciate it."
"Sure." He would have offered to help her up, but some girls didn't like that. And he wasn't big on touching people anyway. Nate grinned and pushed away from the shelf he'd been leaning again. He was pleased with how the conversation had gone. Hopefully he wouldn't be disappointed. "Talk to you soon, Rowan."
Rowan nodded and gave a little wave as she headed to the counter to make her purchase. Thankfully, Dorian or Rhys wasn't working. This day had been all sorts of productive, and for once she actually felt - gasp - optimistic.